Peggie Ferguson’s mother told her time and again that education was the way out.

Now Ferguson is working to give others the chance to advance their education as chairwoman of the Gaston County committee starting a local United Negro College Fund.

Ferguson, an educator for more than 40 years, believes that starting a UNCF will make a difference in the county’s dropout rate.

“But not only that, we believe we will see an increase in high school graduation. I believe we will see an increase in our college graduation thus bringing our employment rate upward,” Ferguson said at a meeting last week to raise awareness. “We will work hard to see if we can see more of our children getting a high school diploma.”

UNCF provides 10,000 scholarships each year and provides assistance at 38 historically black colleges and universities. UNCF offers scholarships to Hispanic, Asian and Native American students in addition to black students. Students at UNCF member colleges may get assistance that came from UNCF donations regardless of their race.

Creating the local chapter means from 10 percent to 40 percent of donations, will stay in Gaston County to help local youth, said Sandra Johnson of UNCF.

In Gaston County, 78.4 percent of black students who started as freshmen four years earlier graduated from Gaston County Schools in 2012. That’s a little bit higher than the countywide graduation rate of 77.8 percent of student graduating in four years. About 20 percent of students attending Gaston County Schools are black, according to the district.

At least $1,905 was donated to start the UNCF effort in Gaston County Thursday night.

“I know a number of you, and I just know in my heart that this town that we grew up in, a number of us, that we are going to see Gaston County Schools graduating many students and many of them receiving scholarships and going on to further themselves in education,” Ferguson said.

You can reach reporter Amanda Memrick at 704-869-1839 or follow @AmandaMemrick on Twitter.